


The Professor and The Ace Trainer

by stardots



Series: Gotta Catch 'Em All [5]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, alternative universe - pokemon, the beginning of a slow burn romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:27:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardots/pseuds/stardots
Summary: Doyoung returns to the day-care and ends up finding his biggest research subject to date.





	The Professor and The Ace Trainer

**Author's Note:**

> weehoooo the doyoung episode is up! we all love professor doyoung and he's so fun to write

Looking for glasses is definitely a hard task when one can’t see anything but the little speck of green on Rowlet’s chest, the Pokémon taunting him like it usually does. Doyoung huffs while ignoring the cackling, continuing the search for his second pair of eyes. It doesn’t help that Rowlet keeps hooting every now and then — but at the same time it does. It’s almost like a game of hot and cold. 

“...Wait a minute.” 

Doyoung stops, realizing it  _ is  _ a game of hot and cold, shooting Rowlet a glare. He moves slowly towards the Pokémon, who makes more and more sounds the closer he gets. When the target is within reach, Doyoung lunges, capturing Rowlet in his arms. His glasses are on top of Rowlet’s head, who doesn’t even try and wriggle free from his hold. “You’re a speculated little— little fluff ball!” 

Once the glasses are back on the bridge of his nose, Doyoung roams around his pocket and finds a Poké Bean, handing it to Rowlet. “Here, and don’t nip at my fingers again.” Rowlet eats the treat happily, rubbing its head against Doyoung’s shoulder when it’s finished. It looks ready to doze off, and Doyoung smiles despite pretending to be angry with it. “I’ve got stuff to do, sorry, Rowlet.” 

Rowlet makes an annoyed noise once Doyoung puts it on one of the Poké dolls in the lab, but falls asleep almost as soon as Doyoung walks off. It was his assistant’s, Wendy, idea to get the dolls because it would turn the lab more ‘homey’, considering the amount of time spends in it compared to his actual home. To Doyoung, the lab  _ is  _ his actual home. 

He walks out of the building and into the field outside, the first sight greeting him being a flock of Pidoves scattering and flying off, having been sitting around by the door. They’re not the sharpest bunch, always migrating towards the lab building instead of the nest area Doyoung had set up for them. He guesses it’s because their most common habitat is cities, but Wendy always says it’s because they’re just not that intelligent. 

Breathing in the fresh air, the mild scent of the Miltank they recently adopted lingers, but it calms him significantly. Pokémon are playing around, some resting in the shade of the bushes and trees on the property, and others mingling in flocks or with different types than themselves. It’s beautiful, being able to watch Pokémon communication up close like this, and Doyoung counts his lucky stars every day for being able to do this. 

His mind flies towards the two trainers, the  _ first _ trainers, he recently sent out on a journey, Mark and Donghyuck, two rowdy kids getting ready to experience the wonderful world of Pokémon. The professor wonders what types they’ll end up favoring, if they’ll evolve Froakie and Growlithe, and how strong they’ll become in the future. Doyoung feels pride burst in his chest, knowing they’ll do well in helping him with his research, and filling out the Pokédex.  

Wendy is by the river, feeding the water-types residing there within the habitat borders. They sometimes migrate to evolve another place, and then come back. There’s a Staryu that sticks around a lot, obviously attached to Wendy, but she has been hesitant about catching it even though Doyoung believes it would be the trigger to it evolving into a Starmie. 

“How are the Goldeens doing?” Doyoung asks when he finally makes it to the riverbank, Wendy looking up from where she was throwing food into the water.

“Oh,” Gesturing to the other side of the river where the surface is bubbling, she grins. “They’ve significantly calmed down after we moved the Magikarps to the pond instead, I think they’ve encountered a fair share of Gyarados beforehand.” Wendy explains, eyebrows furrowed. “Goldeens are usually aggressive if something approaches them brashly, but the Magikarps are fairly young and don’t have a developed moveset, so I don’t know what else it could be.” 

Doyoung nods. “No, that’s a good observation and hypothesis, I’ll write it in the log.” He starts up his Pokétch, about to go into his archive when he notices there’s quite a few notifications waiting for him to check. There’s a few reports from the Pokémon Rangers of the region, which he downloads before moving to his private messages. Just as he reads the one from Johnny, Wendy speaks up.

“By the way, Johnny called me asking if you could come to the day-care.” Doyoung rolls his eyes because that’s what he just read, and he recently just got back from his weekly visit a couple of days ago. “It’s urgent, this time.” 

Doyoung raises an eyebrow at that, and reads over the information Johnny had sent him. “It doesn’t say what the urgency is?” 

Wendy shrugs. “He didn’t sound too frazzled, but I’m guessing you have to observe something since they want you to come over so soon again.” 

“Ah, well, it might be valuable research material…” The professor imagines the possibilities while holding a hand up to his chin, wondering if it might be a new Pokémon struggling to fit in with the others, or maybe an odd Pokémon hatched from one of the eggs. Before he can conjure up more ideas, Wendy interrupts his thoughts. 

“Dragonite is still resting after the whole mess yesterday with the Tauros, but Pidgeotto is ready to go.” She informs, and Doyoung smiles, thanking her. 

Rowlet is still sleeping when Doyoung returns to the lab to pack his bag, which it always seems to be doing whenever Doyoung has to go somewhere. Not having the heart to wake it, Doyoung puts a few berries by Rowlet’s side as a parting note before leaving. 

— 

“Hello?” Doyoung asks into the room, not having seen anyone outside upon his arrival, which is weird, since Johnny is usually feeding the bug types at this hour. “Kun?” 

Pidgeotto squeaks, and Doyoung realizes he forgot to feed it after the trip. He does, then returns it to it’s Poké Ball after getting an affectionate peck on his arm. Careful, not wanting to seem like a trespasser even if Kun’s stated a million of times already how Doyoung can act like it’s his own lab while at the day-care. He takes a breath, walking past the reception area and through the door that leads to the Pokémon habitat. 

Johnny and Kun’s house is located not too far from the front building, standing next to the berry field. There’s smoke rising from the chimney, meaning they’re home cooking lunch, instead of spending valuable time observing Pokémon interact and interact with them like the guy petting a Sandshrew while a Luxray is resting peacefully by his side. Doyoung smiles, watching the male play around with the Pokémon surrounding him, making sure none of the creatures goes without a nice head rub. 

Doyoung halts when he realizes exactly what’s going on. 

One; Johnny and Kun are making food instead of being out with the Pokémon, something they rarely do during the day. Two; they’re letting some stranger play with the day-care Pokémon. Three; the stranger just made a Swadloon smile. Four; this is perfect research material. 

Doyoung plops onto the ground, furiously noting down any and all interactions the trainer has with the Pokémon. The professor takes great note of the aura surrounding the Luxray, which is obviously owned by the trainer. It’s strong, almost as if it’s trained too much, but it’s still amazingly content by its trainer’s side. Unconsciously, Doyoung inches closer, crawling towards the Luxray because he just can’t put his finger on how such a superior Pokémon can act like a domesticated Meowth. 

Not noticing how close he actually is, Doyoung is shaken out of his research-mode once a yelp pierces his ears, glasses falling off his nose as he jumps in surprise. It looks like the trainer is staring at him with wide eyes, which Doyoung can confirm once he manages to find his glasses and put them back on. Noticing his owner’s distress, Luxray wakes from its nap, immediately ready to deal with any threat that could do any harm. 

Doyoung stares in awe, then starts typing on his Pokétch again. “Wow, this is so amazing!” He rambles excitedly, lifting his head every now and then to meet Luxray’s glare. “The posture, and— oh, it know’s Wild Charge?  _ Incredible! _ ” 

“Who  _ are  _ you?” The trainer asks, Luxray stepping down sit down next to the male. Doyoung snaps a picture. 

“I’m Doyoung, Pokémon Professor of this region, and my main research subject is Pokémon communication.” Doyoung introduces himself, pushing his glasses further up his nose which he does to seem smart.  

“Oh, I’m Tae—”

“I’m just so enthralled by the bond you share with your Luxray! Such comfort, trust and camaraderie shining from you at first glance, it’s marvelous, but also quite interesting. How did you train your Pokémon so hard without breaking the trust it feels towards you, and did it have any attitude changes upon evolving, if you caught it as a Sphinx? What level is it, I can’t quite tell but it seems like it’s possibly level 80 and upwards...” 

“Doyoung, you made it!” Johnny greets, walking towards Doyoung and the trainer with a whole brigade behind him. If three people count as a brigade, that is. Doyoung recognizes the two trainers the day-care workers are joined by; Elite Four Yuta, and Taeil, an old friend. It’s perfect that Yuta’s there, as Doyoung has wanted to speak with him for a while. They greet each other, Taeil doing that weird hand sign he picked up from Alola, still wearing the Alolan shirts like always.

Kun speaks up after giving a wave, mild surprise in his eyes. “You already finished feeding the Pokémon, Taeyong?” 

“Yeah,” The trainer —  _ Taeyong  _ — speaks up, rising from the ground. He eyes Doyoung warily, but the professor doesn’t notice, to focused on observing all of the trainer’s moves. “So I played around with a few of them, until... “ Taeyong gestures towards Doyoung, and is met with understanding looks from the others present. 

“So, Doyoung,” Kun starts, poking the professor to get his attention. “I need you to come look at something, if you don’t mind?” 

Doyoung nods, still not turning away from Taeyong. “Sure, but  _ you _ ,” He points to Taeyong and Yuta, the former looking mildly scared, for some reason. “Stay here until we’re done!” 

Doyoung lets Kun pull him away, who mutters something about ‘annoying but useful professors’. They enter the main building, walking past the reception and into Kun’s office and lab, rows of eggs on display on one side of the room. Chansey is there, taking care of an odd looking egg, which is apparently what Doyoung has been called over for. 

“This appeared not long ago, and we have no idea which Pokémon it might stem from.” Kun explains, staring at the egg as it would help him solve the mystery surrounding it. “I haven’t seen anything like it before, and neither did I find anything in any books about it either.” 

Doyoung hums, raising his eyebrows. “I can’t say I’ve seen anything like it either, but I can take it back and do some more extensive research, if you’d like?” 

“You can’t, that’s the issue.” Kun mutters, crossing his arms. “We don’t know which Pokémon it came from, as mentioned, but the egg belongs to the trainer from which Pokémon it came from, it would be against our policy to just  _ take  _ it.” 

“Now that’s an issue.” Doyoung agrees, whistling. “I guess I can stay here for a while and see what I figure out, Wendy can hold up the fort while I’m gone.” 

(“She always hold up the fort, you’re helpless without her.” Kun states, only to be ignored.)

Doyoung leans closer to the case containing the egg, asking for permission to open it. Kun does it for him, the professor sniffing around. “It doesn’t emit any noteworthy scent, so I can’t place it based on that.” Doyoung concludes, then carefully pressing a finger against the shell. “It feels normal, the heat levels are average, but not ready to hatch just yet.” 

Kun huffs out a laugh, Doyoung stating what he already knows. “Think you can figure it out?” 

“Of course,” Doyoung beams, closing the case. “I’m a Pokémon Professor, after all!” 

They walk out of the office to the sight of Johnny returning a Wingull to a trainer, customer service voice in place. It seems to remind Kun of something, who nudges Doyoung on their way back out to the field. 

“There was a trainer here who had dropped out a Cubchoo a few days ago, and he said he’d caught it not long before coming here. The minute we returned it and he opened the Poké Ball, it evolved into a Beartic.” Kun retells, trying to remain calm, even if the scene he had ran into when he heard screaming out front had been quite comical.

Doyoung perks up. “Do you by any chance know his name? And is he a regular?” 

“Johnny knows, we’ll fix that later.” Kun shakes his head, but smiles nonetheless. “By the way, what were you gonna ask Taeyong and Yuta?” 

“Right!” Doyoung gasps, then bolts off towards the trio talking animatedly with each other. Yuta is the first one on the list, having been on his mind for a longer time. “Yuta, how close are you with WinWin?” 

Yuta grins proudly, puffing out his chest. “Well, during his last contest I was front row, like always, and got some really good shots, so I would say very close!” 

“You’ve spoken to him twice.” Taeil shoots in, landing a critical hit to Yuta’s pride. Doyoung manges to pick it back up, somehow.

“Amazing, can you send me the shots? I’ve heard WinWin is good at synchronizing with his Pokémon and—”

“No.” Doyoung reels back in surprise, because Yuta is still grinning, but there’s a glint in his eyes screaming  _ let’s get some coins.  _ “You can buy the photobook like everyone else! Because, you know, if you read my blog you wouldn’t have to to get the exclusives, but since I know you don’t you have to pay full price!” 

Doyoung huffs, admitting his defeat for now. “I’ll get back to you, but now…” 

Taeyong looks much like a Deerling caught in headlights when the professor turns to him, Luxray letting out a little growl. Doyoung remains unfazed. 

“Will you be my next subject for my extending research regarding Pokémon communication?” 

Taeyong gapes. “Your  _ what  _ now?” 

**Author's Note:**

> it's finally time for the romance me and Mishel has been screaming about to commence... the dotae agenda is now on track
> 
> remember to read the former episodes to Keep Up With Pokemonct and look forward to the next installment in the series BECAUSE I SURE AM OH BOY and thank you so much for your patience regarding our updates, but we've both been busy but hopefully we'll update more regularly in 2019!!


End file.
